


Promise I won't Peek

by startrekkingaroundasgard



Series: 31 Days of Ficmas 2020 [5]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: 31 Days of Ficmas, Blackouts, Bubble Bath, Candles, F/M, Naked Cuddling, Power Cut, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:27:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27893809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/startrekkingaroundasgard/pseuds/startrekkingaroundasgard
Summary: Klaus and the reader share a bath.
Relationships: Klaus Hargreeves/Reader
Series: 31 Days of Ficmas 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2035468
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	Promise I won't Peek

It wasn’t unusual for you to come home from a long day at work and find the lock on your window broken, the fridge door half open and a very strange stretched across your sofa, his long limbs draped over the edges, a distant expression on his face. The first time – almost two years ago, now – had been a shock, that was for certain, and in your defence Klaus shouldn’t have been surprised by the baseball bat to the gut, but you’d since come to accept, and almost look forward to, his unannounced appearances.

You might even go so far as to say that you were often gripped by concern on the days that he wasn’t there, especially of late. Klaus had made a habit of crashing on your sofa, almost every day now, and you honestly couldn’t bring yourself to be angry. For one, you actually quite liked the company in the evenings – even more so when he was coherent enough to string together a sentence. For another, you were well aware that it was often a choice between sobering up on your sofa or out on the frozen streets. At least here, he didn’t have to face the ghosts alone.

Tonight, though, as you shook the snow from your jacket, you were struck by how eerily quiet the apartment was without Klaus’s out of tune humming and his half conversations with a dead brother. You dropped your bags by the table – the thin plastic split and your shopping bounced down the hallway – then flicked the light switch. However, after a few attempts, the room was still coated in darkness. You unlocked your phone to use the torch but the screen just flashed a few times before going dark, battery dead.

You threw your head back and groaned. Just what you needed. As if today wasn’t going well enough already.

Thankfully, the universe wasn’t entirely against you. There were a few candles in the back of the cupboard under the sink and you even had matches to light them. Washing the webs from your fingers, you found the water heater was still working so you stumbled down the dark hallway to the bathroom and started to run yourself a boiling hot bath. You fumbled around the cupboards and squirted in a huge amount of bubble bath.

Returning to the living room, you froze as you saw a shadow moving around your space. Creeping forward, you suddenly leapt at the intruder and slammed them against the wall. You yanked their arms behind their back and used the full force of your body to keep them in place.

“Ow! That hurts! Keep going.”

Of course. Who else would it be? You immediately let go and clipped him round the head. “Klaus! What are you – I didn’t think you were coming tonight.”

“Well here I am. You’re welcome.” The moonlight illuminated his face, highlighted the twinkle in his eye. He pressed a kiss to the top of your head as he flounced past then jumped over the back of the sofa to land – barely – on the other side. Head popping up like a drunk jack in the box, he asked, “Why’s it so dark? Forget to pay the bills or something?”

“Nothing so exciting. Just a power cut. They happen every winter.” You brought a candle from the kitchen over to the coffee table and knocked his feet off the sofa’s arm. If you’d told him once, you’d told him a thousand times: no shoes on the furniture.

For once, he appeared to have listened for his kicked off the designer boots and then brought his legs back up into your lap, skirt pooling about his knees. You shuddered at his freezing skin against yours. Fashion trumped practically, he liked to say, but wearing skirts in this weather bordered on the absurd.

Yanking a blanket from under the sofa, you wrapped it around his legs and couldn’t help but laugh at the way he curled up like a kitten, playing with the fluffy, tattered edges of the old sheet. “How you doing, Klaus? Really?”

“Can you hear water running?”

“I was gonna have a bath,” you sighed, unsurprised by his avoidance but a little disappointed nonetheless. Of course, there really wasn’t much you could do to help him with his problems other than give him a warm, safe place to rest but that didn’t stop you from trying. “It’s been a long day. Figured I deserved one.”

“I love baths.”

You shook your head. “No.”

“Oh, please. _Please?_ ” Klaus held the word for as long as he could, the tuneless sound grating on your nerves just as he knew it would. Sensing the weakening of your defences, he said, “Promise I won’t peek. It’s just that I haven’t had a bath in so long and it was the one thing that brought me happiness before dear old dad kicked me out.”

He hid behind a cheeky smirk but you could see the pain that haunted him. Despite your better judgement, you felt yourself on the verge of agreeing. It wasn’t as if you didn’t find him attractive. You’d shared a bed multiple times – usually after a particular bad episode when Klaus needed someone to hold him through the night and ease him back to reality – so was it really much more intimate than that? Raking your fingers through your hair, you leaned back into the cushions and groaned. “There is such a thing as boundaries, Klaus.”

“Are you sure you can’t see Ben? He just said exactly the same thing. So weird.”

“Maybe you should listen to your brother for once.”

“Nah, I’m good.” He waited a beat then asked, “So, is this a yes or…”

You knocked his legs from your lap and shook your head. “Don’t make me regret this, Klaus.”

On his feet in the blink of an eye, Klaus wrapped you in a tight hug then skipped down the hall towards the bathroom. He tossed his coat before he’d even made it half way there and somehow shimmied out of the skirt without tripping over. You padded after him, picking up the clothes as you went, and after a quick whiff dropped them in the washing basket.

Steam filled the bathroom, the light smell of bubble bath in the air. Klaus was already in the tub, swirling his hands through the bubbles like a kid at Christmas. The single candle in the room did little to light the space, for which you immensely grateful as you stripped down. As promised, Klaus covered his eyes with his hand as you undressed and slipped into the bath but you were certain that he did peek – although it didn’t really bother you at all.

Fitting you both in the small tub was a bit more of a hassle than you had anticipated. It was those long limbs. No matter where tried to put them, they were in the way. You settled for hugging your knees to your chest, a mountain of bubbles between you, and stayed that way for a few long seconds before he burst out laughing.

“This is ridiculous. Come here.”

“Klaus.”

He chided your name in exactly the same tone. “Baths are supposed to be comfortable. Not like this.”

“Fine!” 

It took some careful co-ordination but you managed to twist around and shuffle back so that you were against Klaus’s chest, his gangly legs either side of yours. It was a little awkward but you had to admit, as you stretched your legs out and the steaming water soothed your muscles, that it was better. As he grabbed your hands and twisted your fingers together, brushing his thumb over your knuckles, his chest moving gently beneath you, you decided that it was much better indeed.

“This is nice,” he sighed, knocking his knees against yours.

“You know it’s a bit weird, right? Normal people don’t share baths with their friends.”

Klaus shrugged. “I am decidedly not normal.”

You hummed, definitely not about to argue that point. He was the good sort of strange, though. The kind sort, broken and twisted into something odd by cruel circumstance but still decent beneath it all. “I like it, too.”

He kissed your cheek, a hint of a smile in the darkness as he pulled back, and said, “Tell me about your day, then.”

“You don’t wanna hear about my shitty day.”

“Might make me feel better about mine.”

“I sincerely doubt that.”

Still, you proceeded to tell him about your day and Klaus listened intently, nodding along and providing wisdom in the form of his favourite song lyrics. He refused to tell you about his own problems but the conversation flowed comfortably anyway and you were still chatting long after the water went cold. It was definitely not how you’d expected to spend your evening but was by far one of the best nights you’d had in a very long time indeed.


End file.
